Health care workers protest against big cut plan

A World War II bomb has been detonated in the western town of Moors after thousands of people were evacuated overnight.

Authorities said the 500-kilogram (1,100 lb) device was found during construction work and had to be destroyed because its fuse was too damaged to safely defuse.

The bomb was found on the former site of the Drinks Union gastronomy wholesaler.

A second, smaller bomb, discovered at short notice, was also detonated in the town, which lies just west of the city of Duisburg. About 3,200 people were affected by the evacuation within a radius of 800 meters (half a mile).

Those affected include residents, a hospital with about 450 patients and a care home with about 200 people.

Many German cities were heavily bombed during World War II, and unexploded ordnance is still regularly found and disposed of.

Hospital workers in Germany are protesting against planned spending cuts in the government’s health care reform package.

The Verdi service-sector trade union said workers are angry over a “cost-cutting campaign” led by Health Minister Nina Warken.

Union board member Sylvia Buhler warned that these measures could undermine the quality of care and reverse progress on working conditions.

The government package aims to provide a €16.3 billion ($18.9 billion) bailout to statutory health insurers by 2027 to avoid rising taxpayer contributions. This includes spending limits for clinics, doctors, and the pharmaceutical sector, as well as higher co-payments for drugs and free coverage for spouses.

Hospitals alone are expected to contribute €4.6 billion in savings, with tighter limits on reimbursement increases and reduced coverage for pay increases above a set limit.

The proposals, now headed to the German Bundestag, also include limits on the so-called care budget, which funds nursing staff and has grown rapidly in recent years.

good day From the DW newsroom in Bonn.

Join us as trade union Verdi pressures the Government to halt planned spending cuts to hospitals as part of the austerity package.

While the cuts are intended to maintain stable health insurance contributions, Verdi says it will hurt patient care and staffing conditions.

Stay tuned for this and other news from Germany throughout the day.